Saturday, January 29, 2011

Barbara Gordon's incredible journey from Batgirl to Suicide Squad member & finally a Bird of Prey

Barbara Gordon a.k.a Oracle. I'm not gonna bother to recap her history because I'm sure you all know it by now. And I think I speak for pretty much all of us when I say how much I liked the character for a number of reasons. She was vulnerable yet strong at the same time which made you feel sorry for her at times but also admire her too. Let's face it perhaps it is a bit of a cliche but the whole tragedy turned into inspiration narrative never gets old. Take what happened to Def Leppard's drummer for example. He losses his arm in a car accident because of his seat belt of all things but continues to rock on any ways! But in general I think it was pretty cool for DC (John Ostrander's idea apparently) to take a mainstream character and give her a make over that all but redefined her. That's quite a switch to go from being a crime fighter who wears a costume and kicks ass along side with Batman to now having to fight crime exclusively from a wheel chair with a computer. I would imagine this was a great inspiration to comic book fans living with disabilities. As a writer for the Barbara Gordon/Oracle character you really had to do your home work about things like the life of a paraplegic in order to put some realism into the story lines she's a part of. Which Ostrander & Kim Yale did really well in the pages of the Squad. As it so happens, Shag from the Firestorm Fan blog currently has a fantastic exclusive interview posted with John Ostrander, check it out! You might be surprised what you find out about the interplay between the Firestorm and Suicide Squad titles. http://firestormfan.com/2011/01/28/john-ostrander-interview/I never saw the show Birds of Prey in which Oracle was played by the lovely redheaded Dina Meyer. That seemed like a good casting move but truth be told even that didn't pick my interest in the show, but if any of you out there followed it and feel like I missed out by all means do tell. I know about the Birds of Prey comic book of course even though I never read it. But apparently Oracle had her own title at one point, and was it a mini-series? Also, I know Blue Beetle had a thing for her but never got to make a real play for her thanks to that piece of shit Maxwell Lord putting a bullet in his head. However, it appears from some of the clip art I found on the internet that her and Dick Grayson did have a relationship? If somebody knows more about that to please do share with the rest of us.

Kicking off February 1st will be my completed movie casting call for all 7 of the Suicide Squad's primary members, stay tuned.

David - Thanks for the shout-out! You should definitely pick up the BIRDS OF PREY series. The old Gail Simone (and some Chuck Dixon) issues are available in trade paperback. Well worth the time and money.

Dick and Babs have been somewhat involved going back to their early Robin and Batgirl days. The sort of love story about two kids that are crazy about each other, but never together. They finally got together as Oracle and Nightwing. They were quite an item for a while. ONE YEAR LATER changed all that.

Again, great comics. Worth reading.

And for the record, I win. I married a gorgeous redhead in real life. :)

Heh. Is that how you guys keep score? I always like Babs better when she's not messing up the potential Nightwing/Starfire reunion I have playing in my head. But I do agree that it's a character they reworked CORRECTLY. They didn't have her miraculously recover, they didn't give her superpowers, or a mech suit. They stuck her in a wheel chair. And let her use her brain. I love it. Plus, she's a red head, and hot. Win-win.

Shag, I'll concede you the victory for now, as my wife does not currently have red hair, and you were the one who gave us R2DTat (the girl with the tattoos and the R2D2 one-piece). I'm sure I can speak for Dave and myself when I say "thank you for that".

And technically this is all Mrs. D's fault as she's the one who really got me into comics and introduced me to Rogue and Psylocke in the first place. I blame her. And society. And The Man, whoever the hell he is. But, as she does seem to have a thing for guys that look like Danny Devito as the Penguin, I guess it's a win for me too.

Damn, I hate to see friends fight, but I am an instigator by nature. And this is one fight we'll all benefit from.

...Sorry Random, most of us. Although Izzy (my 4 year old) disagrees with you. She's not too keen on Starfire, as she's got designs on Robin herself and wants the "competition" out of the way. The whole thing kind of creeps me out, but she's a geek through and through like her parents so I've gotta love it.

I guess I always kind of saw Dick as Starfire's to begin with...my first introduction was when they were starting their relationship with the Teen Titans. And I'm sorry, but that relationship just always seemed to "click" so much more to me, the chemistry, the 'fire' (Yes, I know, but the terminology fits). I like Nightwing better when he's with her. He's less of an ass. She pulls him out of the "Bat" mindset, which is healthy for him. Besides which, I love Starfire. Everyone has always just written her off as a bimbo, and I don't think she is. So I'm rooting for her. Nothing against Babs, I love her to death. I just don't want her with Dick.

I'm afraid Starfire is battle lost.She said in REBELS she would always love Dick, but seems to be moving on.I started readind the New Titans on the first numbers too. My actually favorite Titan was always Gar Logan. I guess I also felt like a displaced green teen then. So I saw Nightwing and Kory's relationship grow... and then fade.Don't get mad at me Random but right now, I would prefer Babs.Anyway. I don't think that relationship is going to work too.

ya know i was thinking folks, since we've established that both Kory and Barbara need Dick then perhaps Kory, Barbara and Dick should try to work out something to accommodate all 3 of them at the same time, i'm just saying. i want to see everybody happy with big smiles on their faces of satisfaction :)